Indiana won its first national championship in program history on Monday night in the home of the Miami Hurricanes, completing a dream season for its quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, and the entire team.
But the quarterback of the other team, Carson Beck, the transfer from Georgia who had Miami on the precipice of glory, had the ball in his hands in the waning seconds with a chance to make all that magic from Indiana go away. The Hoosiers had just kicked a field goal with 1:42 left to take a 27-21 lead, but there was Beck, the hero of Miami’s comeback over Ole Miss in the semifinals, with one more chance to give Miami its first national title in a quarter-century.
There was 51 seconds left and Beck had the Canes driving, with the ball at the Hoosiers’ 41-yard line. It was 1st-and-10 and then, suddenly, it was over for Beck and the Canes. Beck looked to his left and lofted a pass that was way too short for wideout Keelan Marion.
Instead, it fell into the hands of Indiana junior defensive back Jamari Sharpe, who calmly took a knee and set off a wild celebration on the Hoosiers sideline and back in Bloomington. IU held on for the pulsating 27-21 victory, a historical win and a crushing loss for the Canes and Beck.
It was Beck’s only interception of the game, but it cost Miami a shot at a comeback victory and a national title.
Instead, it was Indiana’s night and Indiana’s year, and Beck was denied in the brutal end in his home stadium.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
